Broken
by Carizo
Summary: Severus Snape and George Weasley is paying their respect at a monument


There is a Monument of the wizards that died in Lord Voldemorts wars. It stood in a small park in Hogsmeade and it was a simple stone that contained all the names. Around it stood benches facing towards the monument and provided rest for those who were there to remember.

Severus Snape was there just a day after the big revealing ceremony. He had sat down on one of the benches and stared at the spot where he knew her name was, thinking what to do next. He had spent so many years working towards her revenge and now when it was done, he was lost. Sometimes he even thought that it would have been better if he really had died.  
He recognised the boy that sat down on the bench on the other side of the park, he recognised his looks, but not the way he moved. He remembered all the times he had the boy in his class room and he had always been so happy, so giddy, so full of live and now it was nothing left. Severus had screen the names of those that fell the 2 may 1998 and he had stopped a second longer on the name of one Fred Weasley. The twins had made his life miserable as a teacher but what was a twin without his other part?  
He could see the answer in George, broken.

After a year of every week being there together Severus decided to sit next to the boy. He could see that time didn't mend the boys wounds just like they did to him and he knew that they felt the same pain.  
They where silent for almost a full hour before the boy said "I got married 2 days ago"  
Severus, not sure that it was actually him George talked to, hummed to show he was listening.  
"I married your girlfriend"  
That confirmed Severus suspicion but he had never heard or seen that the boy had talked out laud before. Maybe he needed someone to listen. Severus tried to remember who any of the twins had dated, he never could separate them in school, but he draw blank. Next thought he got was that the boy married two days ago and was now sitting here just as broken as always.  
"Why?" Severus asked with a low voice, afraid to scare him.  
"They said I needed to start living" George answered, still staring at the monument.  
Severus guessed that he meant the Weasley clan, of course they didn't understand, how could they. They had lost a son, a brother. George had lost it all. Severus knew that they were correct, that the boy was only 21 and he had to start his life again, but Severus had been in the same age when he lost his love so he knew how it was. How it felt to be broken.

Four years later it was still the same. When George came he sat down next to Severus and most of the time they didn't speak. He had learned that the boy was there every day instead of once a week as Severus was and he wished he could stop him, tell him to never come back, but he couldn't.  
"Angelina got a baby" George said suddenly and Severus turned around surprised. He hadn't heard anything about her being pregnant and he thought that it was something the boy would like to tell his dead twin.  
"When?" Severus asked.  
"2 hours ago"  
He felt nauseous. He knew he should congratulate him, but the fact was that the boy was sitting at this monument instead of being at her side. Nothing meant anything to him.  
"She has decided to name him Fred"  
Severus slowly closed his eyes in pain, wanting to lean closer, hold the boy in his arms.  
He hadn't been out much in the public but he still had heard the whispers, the rumours. He had talked to Potter only a week ago and he had said that they did their best to make George forget, to heal him. But nothing worked. So why did they now decide to break him even more? Naming his son after his twin brother, what did they try to achieve with that?  
"I'm sorry" Severus said and looked back at monument.  
He knew where her name was.

"I've start working again" George said in the beginning of spring. In their previous meeting he had told Severus that he was a father again with the same emotionless voice he always had. Well, he hadn't really told Severus, he told his brother but Severus was the one to answer.  
"The Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Severus asked with a smirk. It was such a ridiculous name.  
"Yes" he said and since he didn't look at the older man he hadn't seen the smirk. "I think I need to do something"  
Severus nodded but started to get worried. Would that mean that George wouldn't come here anymore. Would it mean that they had to stop their strange three-way conversation? He didn't want that.

George acted a bit strange that day, nervous, like he wanted to tell Fred something special. Severus sat quietly and waited, looking at the young man that was playing with the hem of his shirt. It was in the middle of the summer so George was only wearing a T-shirt together with his jeans.

"Fred, it something I have to tell you. I should have told you years ago but I never could" It seemed like he still couldn't tell his dead brother but Severus could see that he really wanted to.

"You can say anything, George" Severus said and surprised himself that he used the other mans first name. He had never done that before, never under the 7 years as his professor and not under the 9 years after.

"In fifth year I got a crush on Oliver Wood"

Severus was surprised. He didn't remember who Wood were, but he guessed he was a Gryffindor. Not that it was important now, what was interesting in this scenario was that Wood was a boy.

"I never been interested in girls. Surprise brother, I'm gay"

George laughed, but the laugh was cold and the eyes was just as dead as they had been all this years.

"But you are married"

The laugh disappeared and George nodded.

"I know"

Severus had been forced to go to the 10 year anniversary ball. He didn't want to go but it seemed that he had no choice. He had arrived with the Potter family, scowling and sneering and hating the crowd. Then he had seen the short redheaded man he had spent these 10 years with. Beside him stood a beautiful dark skinned woman with a small boy in her arms. Severus didn't know if he should walk over and greet him, not sure that George even knew that it was Severus he talked to every week, but his eyes met the eyes of George's wife. She hesitated for a second or two before she finally walked over to him, still carrying the child. The man didn't even notice that his wife left his side.  
"Professor Snape" She said and Severus shook his head.  
"mrs Weasley, I haven't been a professor in ten years."  
She nodded and looked over at her husband.  
"I want to thank you for taking care of George" she said.  
Severus was surprised, had George talked about him, told her that they were meeting?  
"You know?" He simply asked.  
"I" she swallowed "I spied on him in the beginning, to see where he went. Last time I followed him I saw him together with you. I feel safe if he is with you."  
Severus didn't like it, he didn't want her to think that he was some kind of saviour that could save her husband for himself.  
"He thinks he talks with Fred"

mrs Weasley nodded once again like she already knew and said "He talks, that is the important thing"

It was Severus birthday and he couldn't really believe that he managed to become 50 years old. It was cold, but he had warmed up the bench for him and George and he was dressed in his thickest robes. George was late. Severus was afraid that he wouldn't come, that he finally after 12 years had stopped being broken. Of course he should be happy about that, should be, but wasn't.  
They had a strange relationship going on. Where George acted like Severus was his brother, talked about his life and about the joke shop that he finally managed to get on its feet again. He sometimes spoke about his children Fred and Roxanna but never about his wife Angelina. He hadn't spoken her name since that day he told Severus she had given birth and Severus didn't know why.  
He waited, he didn't really need to be there any longer. The love and regrets he felt for Lily had finally settled down. Now he hardly could believe it, had he really loved one woman, one person his whole life. A person that started to hate him when they where 15 years old. That had never been a regret before, but now he started to feel terrified about it. Was he really going to spend the rest of his life without ever being kissed, without touching anyone? And the worst thing was that now he had done it again, fallen for someone he never could have.  
Severus heard the soft crunching from shoes meeting snow and looked up. George sat down in his usual spot next to him, without looking at him. His eyes already glued to the monument. But something was different. He was clutching a brown package in his hands. Holding it so tight like he was afraid he would loose it. Severus stared at the package feeling his mouth dry up. He hadn't said that this was his birthday and he wasn't sure that the boy, no he was a man now, would even remember it if he had told him. And not to forget that he didn't seem to realise that Severus was really there.  
"What is that?" he asked. He had never asked something first before. He had always waited for George to talk and only asked questions when he wanted to hear more.  
"A present" the man said and then continued "It is Severus birthday today"  
Severus gaped, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to act.

"You remember him Fred?" George asked the monument "The Greasy overgrown bat"  
Suddenly the younger man smiled and slowly shifted his eyes from the monument over to Severus who still had his mouth open. George had never smiled before and he hadn't looked at Severus, never indicated that he knew that he was there.  
George face was beautiful when he smiled, blue eyes that didn't look as dead anymore and freckles that covered every piece of his skin. He took the packaged and opened it. A parchment. He quickly read it and it became clear what it was.  
"Are you giving me a divorce?" Severus asked confused.  
George nodded, still smiling. "I give you my divorce"  
Severus eyes darted between the parchment and George. 'I don't understand' the voice in his head cried 'what does it mean?'  
But he had no answers and when the smile left George lips and his eyes went back to the monument it didn't seemed like he wouldn't get any answers from George either.

Two months later he was the one how was late. Minerva had visited him, she had told him that she wanted to retire and wondered if he wanted to take over the position as headmaster. It had chocked him. He didn't even work there any more, but she told him that it wouldn't be a problem. None of the older professors had any wish to take on the job and she didn't want to pull in someone from the outside. She wanted someone who knew Hogwarts, like Severus did.  
He told her that he he needed to think and he hurried off to Hogsmeade and the Monument. He saw George, sitting on their normal normal bench, staring at his brothers name. They hadn't talked about the divorce since Severus birthday and he still didn't know what it meant for him. He sat down beside the man and nodded his greeting to Lilys name. He saw that George moved around more than he usually did. In the beginning he could sit completely still for hours, but now his fingers where playing with the hem of his old shirt and he shifted his weight once every couple of minutes. He seemed nervous again.  
Suddenly he turned around and Severus saw that the boy was really there. His eyes where alive again and his lips was curved up in a small smile.

"Severus, would you like to go to Three Broomsticks with me?

The older man could only nod and the two men left the monument behind them.

Two men sat down on a bench in front of a large monument. They were dressed in dress robes and the younger one huffed angrily.

"I hate dress robes"

The older one just laughed and took his hand.

"So" the red haired man said "Sorry Fred, it's been a while"

The black haired man nodded and hummed.

"We just came from the 20th anniversary ball since the war." George continued "20 years, can you imagine. Our Severus was of course furious that he had to go again but Harry forced him, told him that he could go to a ball every 10th year"

"I'm not so sure about that" Severus grumbled which made George laugh.

"What have happened since the last time" George said glancing over to his husband "Ah, Sev gave Freddie detention last week."

"Yes, mr Weasley" Severus said towards the monument "Because your brother decided to start sell his pranks on school property and enlisted his own son to help him"

"Well yes, that is true. But I don't think you can give detention to your own step-son, right Fred?"

Severus huffed "When that step-son is one Fred Weasley, I sure can"

"Oh well. The second store goes great and I'm thinking about creating a secret way between the store and Hogwarts"

Severus turned to George with a frown, apparently he hadn't heard that before.

"But" George continued "I don't think the coming generations want a passageway between a joke shop and the headmasters private rooms."

He laughed and leaned against the older man, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Do you remember that I told you last time that it seemed like Malfoy have befriended Albus and Rose? Well, if my sources are correct he is actually dating one of them. Not gonna tell you who though"

Severus raised his eyebrow and looked down on George.

"So he has something to think about 'til next time" George explained and Severus nodded.

"Of course"

George stood up and stretched, then held out his hand to help the older man up. Before they left he called back to the monument.

"See you in a month or so brother"

Severus smiled down at his smaller companion when they started to walk back towards the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It had been a hard for them both, even though George started to come back to them 8 years ago it took a long time before he stopped crying himself to sleep in Severus arms. And he still had episodes where he seemed to forget that his brother was gone, but Severus had all the time in the world to help him mend. One day George wouldn't be broken.


End file.
